Method of making paper bags having re-inforced mouth portions



J. S. DAVIS Jul 13, 1965 METHOD OF MAKING PAPER BAGS HAVING RE-INFORCED MOUTH PORTIONS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 13, 1962 w. INVENTOR.

JBHA/ J. Q4 V/J ATTOIEAJEVI J. s. DAVIS 3,194,125 METHOD OF MAKING PAPER BAGS HAVING RE-INFORCED MOUTH PORTIONS July 13, 1965 Filed June 15, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JOHN J. 0A V/J J- S. DAVIS July 13, 1965 METHOD OF MAKING PAPER BAGS HAVING RE-INFORCED MOUTH PORTIONS Filed June 13, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. JOHN J DAV/J United States Patent i METHOD OF MAKING PAPER BAGS HAVHNG This invention relates to paper bags having reinforced mouth portions. For example, many stores provide customers with relatively large shopping bags having their mouth portions provided with cord handles for easy carrying. These may be loaded with relatively heavy merchandise, making it advisable to reinforce either the entire periphery of the bags mouth portion or a portion thereof where Weakness is evidenced.

Such shopping bags should have an attractive appearance which means that any reinforcing patches or the like applied to their mouth portions should terminate flush with the upper edges of these mouth portions. The

patches or other reinforcement elements are preferably applied by adhesively securing them to the bag mouth Walls and it 'is difficult to do this by using high-speed production methods while still assuring that the top edges of, the patches or reinforcements are flush with the upper edges of the bag mouths. If they do not reach completely to the top edge portions of the bag, these portions are not adequately reinforced and may tear. If they project above these top edges, an unattractive appearance results.

With the above in mind, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide for the application for such reinforcing patches or reinforcements so as to assure that their top edges are exactly flush with the top edges of the bag mouth portions or walls while still permitting the use of high-speed bag production methods. This must be done so as not to interfere with the application of adequate carrying handles. The present. invention not only attains this object but in addition has the advantage of permitting many different types of patches or reinforcements to be applied to bags so as to reach to the top edges of the latters walls and to terminate there completely flush with the latter. The patch or reinforcement may be relatively short and extend around the complete periphery of the bag mouth or it may be relatively narrow, yet long enough to reach from the top to the bottom of the bag so as not only to reinforce the mouth portion, but the bag walls as well. Further, inherently the practice of this invention leaves some of the patch or reinforcing material in the bottoms of the bags so as to strengthen these bottoms and, if desired, the entire bottom may be made with a double wall.

Many other possible bag reinforcement applications may also be developed, as will become evident from the followingdisclosure of specific examples of the invention as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1. is a side elevation showing in diagrammatic form a shopping-bag-making machine constructed in accordance with the present invention; FIGURE 2 schematically shows a bag Web carrying the handles and reinforcements as the Web is tubed and severed to bag lengths;

FIGURES is the same as FIGURE 2 excepting that it shows a different design of reinforcement;

FIGURE 4 is the same as FIGURE 2 excepting that i 3,194,125 Patented July 13, 1965 large roll 1 of the material through a set of rotary elements 2 whichare provided with means for forming transverse rows of perforations through the paper web at bag length intervals. These rows of perforations are shown at 3 in the various views illustrating the formation of the web into the bag tube and it is to be noted that they extend transversely only for the lengths reice quired to permit the application of cord handles and that their terminations are curved upwardly in the direction of what would ultimately be the bag mouth tops. These curved ends are representative of end portions extending in directions having longitudinal components.

Before leaving the machine, the paper bag web is tubed and passed through rotary elements 4 which completely sever the bag tubes into bag lengths. Forwarding rolls 5, operating at a slightly higher peripheral speed than the linear speed of the bag tube behind these rolls, serve completely to separate the bag tube lengths and forward them for furtherprocessing.

In accordance with the present invention the paper bag web W, after leaving its supply roll 1, goes to a paste printing roll 6 which has a printing sector 7 supplied with paste by a paste roll 8 running in a paste pan 9 and provided with a doctor roll 10. The sector 7 continually applies printed paste patterns 11 to the side of the bag Web W that ultimately becomes the insides of the paper bags produced.

The patterns of paste applied depended upon the exact type of reinforcing desired but in all cases the patterns will span the lines of separation where the rotary elements 2 and 4 make their cuts to obtain the bag lengths.

As the bag Web W carrying the printed paste patterns 11 continues to travel it receives reinforcing strips or patches 12 cut to coincide with the paste patterns and feed to the travelling web wet the latters travelling speed, a combining roller 13 serving to combine the patches and web. These patches are obtained from a supply roll 14 of the patch material which is in the form of a web at that time. This patch web PW is pulled by feed rolls l5 and from them feed to cutting rolls in which cut off lengths appropriate for the purpose desired, the cut lengths then being pushed forwardly by forwarding rolls 17. The length of the patches 12 is established by the diameter of the cutting rolls 16 and the speed of the feed rollers 15. The width of the patches is, of course, established by the Width of the patch Web PW.

With the patches 12 applied to the top of the paper Web W the web then goes through the various pieces of equipment disclosed and explained by the Davis et al. Patent 2,844,075, issued July 22, 1958. The exception is that the rotary cutting elements 2 do not apply perforations completely across the bag web, the lines of severance here being limited to what is required to provide clearance for the cord handles. If desired, the cuts made to provide this clearance may be in the nature of die cuts, as contrasted to lines of perforations. In the case of the present invention the final severance to bag lengths is effected by the rotary cutting elements 4 which work on the bag tube, it being understood that these cutting elements must be patterned to provide clearance for the bag handles while joining with the cuts 3 made by the elements 2. Here again, die cutting may be used, or lines of perforations. If die cutting is not used, it is customary to provide means for quickly tensioning the bag tube at the lines of severance to effect the necessary tearing apart;

It is to be understood that the bag handles are formed and applied by the mechanism generally illustrated at 18 and handle-holding patches 25 (FIGURES 25), that are applied over the legs of the handles to connect the latter firmly with the bag web, is the equipment generally illustrated at19 (FIGURE 1). The adhesive-applying means for the handle patches is generally indicated at 263 and the paste roll for applying the line of adhesive required for the bag tubing operation is generally shown at 21. The handle-holding patches 25, when used with reinforcing patches that extend transversely of the bag, as the patches 12 and 12a of FIGURES 2 and 3, but do not extend continuously, as patches Lla and LN) of FIG- URES 4 and 5, thehandle-holding patches 25 preferably are located so that the upper portion of each of the handle-holding patches overlaps at least a part of the lower portion of the reinforcing strip or patch 12 or 12:?

but terminates below the cuts 3.

Paper bag machines are complicated and it is not believed that the present invention will be clarified by referring to all of the necessary mechanical drives, guide rolls and other parts normally included. Excepting as described above, the present machine is similar to that of the previously-mentioned Davis et al. patent and the latter may be referred to for details concerning formation of the handles, handle patches and their application to the bag web prior to the tubing operation. The tubing operation itself may be done in the conventional manner in the zone generally indicated by the letter T, the cutting rolls 4 being necessarily after this tubing operation.

The bag-making machine must be operated at very high production speeds to provide the shopping bags at a price that is competitive. This makes it substantially impossible to accurately effect timing between the mechanisms feeding the reinforcements 12, the bag web W and the other parts of the equipment, as would be required for a precise placement of these patches 12. For example, if the patches or reinforcement web PW is made the same width as the bag web W and the cutting rolls 16 are arranged to cut short patches which would be just suficient to reinforce the bag mouth top, it would be a practical impossibility to always locate these patches with their outer end edges flush with the lines of severance subsequently made.

However, in the case of the present invention the rolls 16 are provided with such a diameter and the feed rolls 15 are speedcd so as to cut a somewhat longer length of patch material then is required for reinforcing purposes, and the adhesive printing sector 7 is made correspondingly long enough, all as required to paste the patch material on the bag web so that lengthwise it spans the locations where the web is ultimately severed by the combined actions of the rotary cutting elements 2 and 4. As the bag web W continues, it, of course, receives the cord handles and their necessary patches on top of the patches 12. The cord handle patches may be located well inside of the proposed lines of servance without loss of strength, particularly in view of the reinforcing patches 12.

Keeping in mind that the rotary cutting elements 2 and 4 must necessarily cut directly through the patches 12, it

becomes apparent that after severance of the bag lengths the patches 12 automatically have their outer edges exactly flush with the outer edges of the bag months, with more or less of a balance of the patch 12 appearing, in the bag bottom in each instance.

The results obtained. by the foregoing are shown in the form of one example by FIGURE 2. Here the reinforcing strip or patch 12 is cut from a patch web PW that is equally as wide as the bag web W. it is located at bag length intervals and is long enough lengthwise of the web to provide just a moderate reinforcement TR for the top of the bag length while leaving only a very small amount BR in the bottom portion of the bag length which will, of course, ultimately be closed by the usual bag bottomer. Since shopping bags are involved, the bags will sometimes have bellows side walls and square bottoms.

In the drawings the bellows side walls are not illustrated In FIGURE 3 the patch or reinforcement 12a again has the same width as the bag web W but is made much longer than the patch 12, this being done by suitable proportioning of the diameter of the cutting rolls l6 and control of the feed rolls 15. In each case this patch 12a is located to provide a top reinforcement TR similar to the one described in the case of FIGURE 2 but with .a relatively long bottom reinforcement BR. This bottom reinforcement may be made long enough to give the entire bag bottom a double wall with the patch or reinforcing material 12a on the inside where it is contacted by whatever is carried by the bag. Therefore, when the bag load is apt to be a leaking liquid or the like the reinforcing patch material fed from the roll lid is made of a liquid-resisting material such as plastic, high wet strength paper, or other materials that are able to resist liquids better than the paper bag web material itself. Further, by making the patch 12a long enough, the bottom reinforcement BR not only covers the entire bag bottom but extends more or less up the bag walls themselves.

in FIGURE 4 two reinforcement patches are fed from rolls l l each narrower than the bag web, the cutting rolls 17 are opened so as not to cut the material, and two narrow strips are laid on the bag web continuously. Each strip is located tobe generally in line with the bag handles of the ultimate bags but so as not to extend laterally very far beyond alignment with the handles. This results in two longitudinally-extending patches LPa and LPb. These longitudinal patches LP, after bottoming of the bag, form a continuous suspension saddle for the handles, greatly enhancing the load-carrying capacity of the bag. Alternately, the same load capacity may be obtained by using lighter weight paper for the bag web W, the longitudinal patches LPa and LPb providing for the same strength formerly obtained by the use of a heavier weight of paper for the web W.

A somewhat corresponding type of reinforcement is shown by FIGURE 5 wherein two rolls of patch material 14 are used, the. cutting rolls 16 are again separated so that no curring occurs, and the two lengths of patch LPa and LP!) are fed to the web W continuously but at loca tions ultimately forming the side walls of the bags produced. When these side walls are of the bellows type, as they often are in the case of shopping bags, the sidewalls are very greatly strengthened.

In all of the foregoing examples, it will be noted that always the various patches automatically are cut flush with the bag top edges. The patches required for the cord handles are nearly always located well away from the ultimate lines of severance and present no problem. However, previous efforts in the direction of a high speed application or peripheral bag mouth patches or reinforcements have presented great difiiculties in obtaining edge registration between the patch and bag well edges right at the top of the bag where it is very noticeable.

The present invention not only always achieves this top edge registration between the patch and the bag walls but permits a great variety of reinforcement designs, as required to meet special purposes. The amount of reinforcement patch material left in the bag bottom when the reinforcement patch is the full width of the bag web, may be varied widely. When the usual square bag bottom is made, a small amount forms a grid in the bottom, providing some reinforcing action. A larger amount, of course, provides greater strength and by leaving enough in the bag bottom portion of the bag, bottoming results in a double wall bag bottom with the upper or inner Wall formed by the reinforcing material so that .when this is waterproof or water-resistant, for example, the resulting bag is particularly adapted for use when the bag contents might wet the bag bottom. The bottom portions of the bag walls themselves may include the patch material as previously indicated.

Alternately the patch or patches may be in the form of longitudinally-extending strips, as in the case of the examples shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. In some circumstances this eifects an overall saving because it permits a stronger bag for the same paper weight of the paper bag web material itself.

Thus it can be seen that by the process of applying what might be termed in some cases cross patches and in other cases longitudinal patches prior to the bag severance operations, the patches and the bag wall outer edges always are flush without requiring precision operations. The cost of altering a paper bag machine to practise this process is relatively small and does not present any serious maintenance problem. Insofar as is known, the process, the machine and the bags themselves are novel and the results achieved are of very considerable practical commercial importance.

What is claimed is: p

1. The method of making shopping bags which comprises advancing a web of bag material longitudinally, adhesively applying a reinforcing strip to the web as a second ply over a limited area of the advancing web, said area being substantially less than the length of the bag blanks to be formed, making first successive transverse cuts through the web and reinforcing strip and across a portion and only a portion of the width of the advancing web with the cuts spaced lengthwise of the web for a distance substantially equal to the length of the bags that are to be made from the web, the cuts including end portions extending in directions having longitudinal components and with each cut within the longitudinal limits of the reinforcing strip, and then applying handles to the advancing web, applying patches to the web over the ends of the handles to secure the handles to the web and with both sides of the handles located within the transverse limits of the cuts, the patches being located so that the upper portion of each patch overlaps at least a part of the lower portion of the reinforcing strip but terminates below the cuts, tubing the web with a longitudinal seam,

and thereafter severing the tube into individual bag blanks by cutting through the Web and reinforcing strip transversely of the length of the advancing web and beyond both ends of the transverse cuts and at locations that intersect the end portions of said transverse cuts having longitudinal components, whereby the portions of the strip severed from one another by said cutting through form double-ply edges at the top and bottom of the bag blank.

2. The method described in claim 1 and in which each reinforcing strip is applied to the web along a substantial length of the web and with most of the longitudinal extent of the reinforcing strip extending beyond the line of transverse cut on the side of the transverse cut that forms the bottom of a bag after severance whereby the reinforcing forms a part of the side for a distance upward from the bottom of the bag.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,076,680 4/37 Steen 229-54 2,221,617 11/40 Steen.

2,469,536 5/49 Winesett 93-35 2,952,396 9/60 Steen 229-54 3,021,767 2/62 Hamilton 93-35 FRANK E. BAILEY, Primary Examiner.

EARLE DRUMMOND, Examiner. 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING SHOPPING BAGS WHICH COMPRISES ADVANCING A WEB OF BAG MATERIAL LONGITUDINALLY, ADHESIVELY APPLYING A REINFORCING STRIP TO THE WEB AS A SECOND PLY OVER A LIMITED AREA OF THE ADVANCING WEB, SAID AREA BEING SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN THE LENGTH OF THE BAG BLANKS TO BE FORMED, MAKING FIRST SUCCESSIVE TRANSVERSE CUTS THROUGH THE WEB AND REINFORCING STRIP AND ACROSS A PORTION AND ONLY A PORTION OF THE WIDTH OF THE ADVANCING WEB WITH THE CUTS SPACED LENGTHWISE OF THE WEB FOR A DISTANCE SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE LENGTH OF THE BAGS THAT ARE TO BE MADE FROM THE WEB, THE CUTS INCLUDING END PORTIONS EXTENDING IN DIRECTIONS HAVING LONGITUDINAL COMPONENTS AND WITH EACH CUT WITHINT HE LONGITUDINAL LIMITS OF THE REINFORCING STRIP, AND THEN APPLYING HANDLES TO THE ADVANCING WEB, APPLYING PATCHES TO THE WEB OVER THE ENDS OF THE HANDLES TO SECURE THE HANDLES TO THE WEB AND WITH BOTH SIDES OF THE HANDLES LOCATED WITHIN THE TRANSVERSE LIMITS OF THE CUTS, THE PATCHES BEING LOCATED SO THAT THE UPPER PORTION OF EACH PATH OVERLAPS AT LEAST A PART OF THE LOWER PORTION OF THE REINFORCING STRIP BUT TERMINATES BELOW THE CUTS, TUBING THE WEB WITH A LONGITUDINAL SEAM, AND THEREAFTER SEVERING THE TUBE INTO INDIVIDUAL BAG BLANKS BY CUTTING THROUGH THE WEB AND REINFORCING STRIP TRANSVERSELY OF THE LENGTH OF THE ADVANCING WEB AND BEYOND BOTH ENDS OF THE TRANSVERSE CUTS AND AT LOCATIONS THAT INTERSECT THE END PORTIONS OF SAID TRANSVERSE CUTS HAVING LONGITUDINAL COMPONENTS, WHEREBY THE PORTIONS OF THE STRIP SEVERED FROM ONE ANOTHER BY SAID CUTTING THROUGH FORM DOUBLE-PLY EDGES AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE BAGBLANK. 